Mohammad Hamid Ansari (born 1 April 1937) is an Indian former diplomat and academic who was the twelfth Vice-President of India, from 2007 to 2017. He is the only person other than Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan to have served two full terms in the office. Before that he spent nearly four decades in the Indian Foreign Service, as ambassador to several countries of West Asia and as Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Mohammad Hamid Ansari |
| Born | 1 April 1937, Calcutta |
| Age | 89 |
| Education | St Edward’s School, Shimla; St Xavier’s College, Calcutta; Aligarh Muslim University (M.A. in political science) |
| Service | Indian Foreign Service (1961) |
| Offices | Vice-President of India (2007–2017); Permanent Representative to the United Nations (1993–1995); Vice-Chancellor, Aligarh Muslim University (2000–2002); Chairman, National Commission for Minorities (2006–2007) |
| Awards | Padma Shri (1984) |
| Spouse | Salma Ansari |
| Children | 3 |
Early Life
He was born in Calcutta into a family from Ghazipur in eastern Uttar Pradesh. He is a grand-nephew of Dr Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari, the physician who was president of the Indian National Congress in 1927 and a founder of the Jamia Millia Islamia. He was educated at Shimla and Calcutta and took a master’s degree in political science at Aligarh Muslim University.
Diplomat
He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1961.
- **Early postings:** Baghdad, Rabat, Jeddah and Brussels
- **Ambassador** to the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia, and High Commissioner to Australia
- **Chief of Protocol** of the Government of India, 1980–1985, for which he received the Padma Shri
- **Permanent Representative to the United Nations** in New York, 1993–1995
He became one of the country’s foremost specialists on West Asia, and after retirement taught at Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Jamia Millia Islamia and wrote widely on Iran, Iraq and the Palestinian question.
Aligarh and the Minorities Commission
He was Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University from 2000 to 2002. In 2006 he became chairman of the National Commission for Minorities. He also chaired a working group on Jammu and Kashmir set up by the Prime Minister, which recommended measures to build confidence between the people of the state and the government.
Vice-President
In 2007 the governing United Progressive Alliance and the Left parties nominated him for Vice-President. He was elected on 10 August 2007 and re-elected in 2012.
As chairman of the Rajya Sabha for ten years, under the governments of Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi, he was a strict presiding officer.
- he ruled that no bill would be passed in the din, and adjourned the House when members disrupted it
- he moved the zero hour to the start of the day so that question time could be held undisturbed
- he was criticised by the opposition of the day in December 2011 for adjourning the House at midnight during the debate on the Lokpal bill
Controversies
His term ended in August 2017. In an interview and a farewell speech he spoke of a sense of unease and insecurity among Muslims and of the importance of protecting minorities in a democracy. The remarks were criticised by leaders of the governing party, and the Prime Minister’s farewell tribute to him was read by some as pointed. He has also been attacked over his diplomatic record and over having, at an official ceremony, not saluted the flag, where protocol required only the President to do so. He has rejected the charges.
Writings
- Travelling Through Conflict: Essays on the Politics of West Asia
- Citizen and Society and Dare I Question?, collections of his speeches as Vice-President
- By Many a Happy Accident: Recollections of a Life (2021), his memoir
Personal Life
He is married to Salma Ansari, who runs schools for poor children at Aligarh; they have two sons and a daughter. He lives in New Delhi. He is a keen golfer and a lover of Urdu poetry.
His predecessor as Vice-President was Bhairon Singh Shekhawat; his successor was M. Venkaiah Naidu.
Featured image: Hamid Ansari, official portrait as Vice-President of India, 2014. Photo by the Vice President’s Secretariat, licensed under Government Open Data License – India, via Wikimedia Commons.